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Culture

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Jul 15th 2004 8:53am





Living La Vida Broadband

from the changes-so-many-things dept

Admittedly, it's an article with just a few anecdotal stories, but the NY Times is trying to get a feel for how broadband changes many people's lives. Basically, the story suggests that broadband becomes like a utility that people who have it come to rely on completely. There's one story of a family who found the perfect home they wanted to buy, but when they found out there was no broadband service in the area yet, it became a deal breaker. Of course, if the Times really wanted to see what happens when broadband becomes a utility, they should be looking at South Korea and Japan. Even if they only looked in the most heavily broadband saturated American cities, we're still way behind a few other countries that have made a much bigger effort to push broadband adoption.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Adoption vs. Usage

    identicon
    dorpus, Jul 15th, 2004 @ 9:23am

    The infrastructure is there, but how many people use it or take it seriously? In South Korea's case, there seems to be heavy usage, but my overwhelming sense from visiting Japan a few times recently is that most people there don't take the internet seriously. Few businesses even have web pages, fewer still have any online transactions available. The bulk of "internet" usage over there is cell phone browser stuff.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    No broadband - no purchase

    identicon
    Tom Johnson, Jul 15th, 2004 @ 10:17am

    When looking for my first house in 2002 my realtor was given a 'must' list. Right under two-car garage was high-speed Internet availability, cable or DSL - ideally both. Even in a small town of under 40,000 that wasn't hard to find, now have the option of either and currently use cable. Deal with dial-up Hell? Never again.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Chomper, Jul 15th, 2004 @ 10:39am

    In all fairness to America, South Korea, especially Seoul and it's outlying areas are MUCH MORE densely populated than the US is in general. Also, your dealing with much smaller population.

    However, the broadband craze in Korea is real. The speeds they are getting are ridiculous not to mention the price.

    America is catching up though, it's slow, but then again, everything is more spread out here in the States than in Japan or Korea.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Being wired in Japan is expensive

    identicon
    Permanent4, Jul 16th, 2004 @ 7:39am

    You have to consider just how expensive phone lines are in Japan. Everything there is wireless because wireless is a lot cheaper, so that's where the bulk of the technology is going to follow. If wireless broadband is introduced in the U.S. at lower prices than cable or DSL -- or at the same price with the promise of true mobility -- it will compete favorably.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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